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New to mastering (pg. 3)
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| Raphie |
most of you are right in some way.
Most important part especially for the bedroom warriors is a calibrated response in your room, you cannot paint when being blind.
An engineer knows how to make your track translate well on all kinds of different enviroments, either mono or stereo, full range or limited bandwidth. etc etc.
so you could say it's about making your track "compatible"
However there is also an artistic side to mastering, which when desired can (de)emphasize certain parts of the track or give the track a certain colour or crunch. Typically these things can also be done in the mix, though the level of success is always depending on the "translation" in your studio (quality of AD/DA, monitoring resolution, room metering. range of the system etc. etc.
There are also a producers who mix into a limiter themselves and deliver "finshed" tracks which require no mastering. however also for these people above considerations apply.
There is a thin line between taste and engineering....... |
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| Subtle |
| quote: | Originally posted by Raphie
most of you are right in some way.
Most important part especially for the bedroom warriors is a calibrated response in your room, you cannot paint when being blind.
An engineer knows how to make your track translate well on all kinds of different enviroments, either mono or stereo, full range or limited bandwidth. etc etc.
so you could say it's about making your track "compatible" |
Yeah this is true, you are also borrowing the ears and equipment of the mastering engineer.
But in my opinion though, most of those kind of tracks we are making does not really need mastering, unless its a track with vocals or more commercially aimed. In fact the majority of tracks these days arent mastered by a mastering studio at all, if you count out the big artists.. but their tracks are usually squashed to death anyways.
However, if the track is going to be played on a soundsystem made for 5-10 thousand people.. mastering may be an advantage, im a bit worried about that actually.. in case maybe one lucky day some DJ might pick one of my tracks for such an event. |
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| Mr.Mystery |
| quote: | Originally posted by mfitterer1
Mastering is THE MOST IMPORTANT stage of music. |
That is the biggest load of horse I have ever read on these forums. |
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| Raphie |
| quote: | [i][b]
However, if the track is going to be played on a soundsystem made for 5-10 thousand people.. mastering may be an advantage, im a bit worried about that actually.. in case maybe one lucky day some DJ might pick one of my tracks for such an event. |
If this is your aim, not mastering (as in doing an "engineering sanity check") is NOT an option (whether one in his bedroom is skilled and capable enough with the right means, is yet another discussion)
Imagine one plays your track on sensation and your sidechained superwide pad sounds like a reverb fart because you did not check your M/S...... ouch.......... or your hihats are gone because you decided that you liked wide panning, let alone phasing issues with fx on bass etc. there is a lot that CAN go wrong which you will not notice with your monitors at home if you don't know what to look for. |
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| Subtle |
| quote: | Originally posted by Raphie
If this is your aim, not mastering (as in doing an "engineering sanity check") is NOT an option (whether one in his bedroom is skilled and capable enough with the right means, is yet another discussion)
Imagine one plays your track on sensation and your sidechained superwide pad sounds like a reverb fart because you did not check your M/S...... ouch.......... or your hihats are gone because you decided that you liked wide panning, let alone phasing issues with fx on bass etc. there is a lot that CAN go wrong which you will not notice with your monitors at home if you don't know what to look for. |
Yeah, but i have no other option.. if i would have had professional mastering on all my tracks it would cost me around 3000 euro a year or more, if you grant that professional mastering costs around 100 euro per track maybe a little less.
And forget the cheaper options, you get what you pay for.. besides i dont trust engineers to work on my tracks.. so i rather do it myself. Still i have no idea how it would sound on a superhuge soundsystem. |
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| MrJiveBoJingles |
| quote: | Originally posted by mfitterer1
Mastering is THE MOST IMPORTANT stage of music. |
LOL. Is someone forgetting about composition here? And sound design maybe?
| quote: | | It is what adds the things that stand out in a listening experience. Sheen, punch, loudness, and balancing of dynamics. |
Yeah, I know that's what I listen for in a track. Who cares whether it has powerful melodies or a fun, catchy rhythm? If it has the right mixing and mastering, I know it's going to be awesome because mastering is THE MOST IMPORTANT stage of making music! I could make a track consisting solely of white noise and the sound of my farts, and I know everyone would go crazy to it in a club if I could only afford the right mastering engineer.
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| evo8 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Raphie
Imagine one plays your track on sensation and your sidechained superwide pad sounds like a reverb fart because you did not check your M/S...... ouch.......... or your hihats are gone because you decided that you liked wide panning, let alone phasing issues with fx on bass etc. there is a lot that CAN go wrong which you will not notice with your monitors at home if you don't know what to look for. |
Those problems you listed would be down to bad mixing and no amount of mastering will fix a bad mix |
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| Raphie |
Again agreed, but you would rather have someone pointing that out to you upfront, than finding out the hard way ;)
Again, it's debatable whether one needs mastering. all the potential reasons why are mentioned above, if one has the skills, the gear and the room then there should be no reason not to do it, or even include it during mixdown.
there is an creative part and there are technical boundaries, if both are looked after and taken into consideration the workflow should not matter |
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| evo8 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Raphie
Again agreed, but you would rather have someone pointing that out to you upfront, than finding out the hard way ;)
Again, it's debatable whether one needs mastering. all the potential reasons why are mentioned above, if one has the skills, the gear and the room then there should be no reason not to do it, or even include it during mixdown.
there is an creative part and there are technical boundaries, if both are looked after and taken into consideration the workflow should not matter |
Yeah but wouldnt that be more of a "mixing advice" service, maybe some mastering houses do that as well, i dunno.....
Personally think that if youre aiming at the club market then you dont really need mastering, i think everyone here knows to cut out unnecessary low frequencies etc..
However if you were aiming to get a vinyl release i think you would need some mastering expertise in that case |
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| MrJiveBoJingles |
| People put way too much importance on mastering. A good track will shine brighter if mastered properly, but a shiny turd is still a turd. I have to laugh at people who think mediocre tracks become "great" with the right mastering job. A mastering engineer isn't going to fix your crappy songwriting and unimaginative sound design. |
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| MrJiveBoJingles |
| Then again, maybe listeners have become so inattentive that the immediate effect of a loud, skillfully mastered and EQed track is all that they take away from music. Maybe it's correct to put so much emphasis on mastering if your target audience is full of idiots who don't actually listen to the music. |
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| cryophonik |
| quote: | Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles
Maybe it's correct to put so much emphasis on mastering if your target audience is full of idiots who don't actually listen to the music. |
Sad, but probably true in many cases. |
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